Discussion [Nintendolife] Infinity Knights: Xross- “We want to make one of the most accessible and playable RPGs of all time" [KS Live]

[PixelKnight]

Exclusive: Meet The Three Brothers Making Their Dream 'Secret Of Mana'-Inspired RPG

"We want to make one of the most accessible and playable RPGs of all time"

www.nintendolife.com

The game itself seems like an interesting mix of mechanics from Dark Cloud, Kingdom Hearts and FFXI, combined with Secret of Mana’s co-op, due out on Switch late next year. But I thought the section on accessibility was interesting:

Michael: This is an excellent question and something we are very passionate about. We’ve kept a list for a long time regarding the features we would love to have seen in the games we’ve played — JRPGs and other genres — and it is a BIG list. As such, many quality-of-life features have made their way into our game, and will continue to do so. Some of these already exist, but a lot are unique!

Tyrone: Things like accessibility for disabilities, being able to customise the UI, and rearranging things. It amazes us that many games do not allow you to customise button inputs. No drop rates that don’t respect players’ interest or time. Making sure cutscenes are skippable and tutorials are optional and non-repetitive. Preset modes for speedrunning and randomization. The list goes on.

We’re keeping a lot of our unique features a secret, but hopefully, these can get you into our mindset of how we’re enabling players to enjoy themselves most. There are a few things we’re willing to share now though.


Saxon: We’re developing an automatic reaction timer (that can be turned on or off). If the game senses you need a bit more time to parry correctly, then it will adjust to challenge you appropriately. We’re hoping that features like this will encourage people to try some of the more challenging mechanics in video games, as well as increase the immersion felt by players.

We’re also looking at changing the way ‘difficulty’ works in this game, so that the experience is more customised for your enjoyment, instead of just having preset modes with scaled stats, etc. You’ll be able to combine different levels of ‘difficulty’ for yourself, granting the best experience for you.



Images: Timesea Studio
We could go on to list more features, but what really matters is our intention. We want to make a game that respects players’ time and doesn’t feature punishing statistics, missables, penalties, and so on. We have every intention to make sure players enjoy their time in the world of the Infinity Knights. You can be sure that we will try our utmost to reduce all frustrations players have to zero through a lot of personal playthroughs, testing, and player feedback. We want to make one of the most accessible and playable RPGs of all time.

 

[Gabev]

I was just reading this article, the game looks super interesting and right up my alley.

 

[PixelKnight]

Yeah it’s really interesting, definitely my kind of thing. Will keep an eye on it.

The game adjusting its parry window speaks to me, as a player that avoids any kinds of games with mandatory parry-based combat. I never get the timing right on those mechanics

 

[kirbyfan407]

I wish this team tons of luck and hope their Kickstarter is a success! The story implications of the Armaments are interesting, so I'd like to see where that goes.

Maybe things will be different for me in late 2025, but right now, I'd need online co-op to enjoy this game in multiplayer. Perhaps that could be a stretch goal on their Kickstarter, but I imagine that's not simple. I still applaud the focus on local multiplayer because there was a time in my life where that was so important and valuable to me and I'm sure it is to others.

 

[MissingNo.]

Definitely keeping an eye on this one, looks pretty cool!

 

[big lantern ghost]

Dark Cloud

Sold

 

[BassForever]

Send me the link to the kickstarter when it's up

 

[PixelKnight]

Sold

. Dark Cloud, infamously called the "Zelda Killer" by PlayStation Magazine back in the day,

You’re just spoiling for a fight on fami aren’t you /s

 

[PixelKnight]

Send me the link to the kickstarter when it's up

Here you go, just hit the notify button

https://www.kickstarter.com/

projects/infinityknightsxross/infinity-knights-xross

Edit- struggled a bit with the link due to the long name, try knocking the return out above

Anyone want to hazard a guess at how to pronounce ‘Xcross’ as a character name?

Ex-cross? Feels a bit awkward. Although I guess if you want to evoke late 90s/early 00s rpgs, having a random X or Z somewhere won’t hurt

 

[BassForever]

Here you go, just hit the notify button

https://www.kickstarter.com/

projects/infinityknightsxross/infinity-knights-xross

Edit- struggled a bit with the link due to the long name, try knocking the return out above

Anyone want to hazard a guess at how to pronounce ‘Xcross’ as a character name?

Ex-cross? Feels a bit awkward. Although I guess if you want to evoke late 90s/early 00s rpgs, having a random X or Z somewhere won’t hurt

Link isn't working for me, please tag me when the kickstarter is live and I'll probably back it.

 

[Hero of Legend]

YOU'LL BE HOOKED ON THE BROTHERS!!! shot

Looks actually cool and legit impressive if it's from a small team. Reminds of ye 'olde Blossomsoft, an old Canadian indie JRPG dev who created Eternal Eden and wanted to remake it in 3D for the 3DS, but sadly that wasn't able to be.

Best of luck to them. Really dig the logo. They did their homework.

 

[jariw]

I wish this team tons of luck and hope their Kickstarter is a success! The story implications of the Armaments are interesting, so I'd like to see where that goes.

Maybe things will be different for me in late 2025, but right now, I'd need online co-op to enjoy this game in multiplayer. Perhaps that could be a stretch goal on their Kickstarter, but I imagine that's not simple. I still applaud the focus on local multiplayer because there was a time in my life where that was so important and valuable to me and I'm sure it is to others.

"Late 2025" for a team that develops their first game will probably translate to a quite different release date.

 

[kirbyfan407]

"Late 2025" for a team that develops their first game will probably translate to a quite different release date.

I think you're totally right. I tend to add at least a year to most Kickstarter release dates. I've backed some that released many years after originally planned.

 

[Timesea Studio]

Yeah fair Saxon here from Timesea Studio and happy to answer any questions - it's nice to see it so positively reviewed. And thank you so much for sharing the KS link, and the article in general. Thanks heaps! We really appreciate it We're absolutely just pouring our hearts into making this as best we can.

 

[Timesea Studio]

Yeah it’s really interesting, definitely my kind of thing. Will keep an eye on it.

The game adjusting its parry window speaks to me, as a player that avoids any kinds of games with mandatory parry-based combat. I never get the timing right on those mechanics

This was almost entirely inspired by practicing DS3 speed runs and getting cleaned up at the Pontiff

 

[kirbyfan407]

Yeah fair Saxon here from Timesea Studio and happy to answer any questions - it's nice to see it so positively reviewed. And thank you so much for sharing the KS link, and the article in general. Thanks heaps! We really appreciate it We're absolutely just pouring our hearts into making this as best we can.

Oh, that's awesome! I said it above, but best of luck to you and your team! I'll definitely dig into the details of the game once the Kickstarter is live. I've got that Notify box ticked.

 

[PixelKnight]

This was almost entirely inspired by practicing DS3 speed runs and getting cleaned up at the Pontiff

Hah! Welcome to Famiboards

Yeah I’ve always avoided timed-counter builds, I even struggled with Ganon in TotK, after 90-odd hours of playing! I see a one-on-one sword fight coming up in action rpgs and I just groan, even after 30 years of playing them

Was fun to read the list of influences on Xcross, particularly as Dark Cloud feels like a deep cut on a Nintendo forum at this point (alongside Soleil/Crusader of Centy for a Megadrive/Genesis-era pick). I quoted the accessibility section as it’s also a topic that comes up with some frequency here, so thanks for considering it in the build.

Ah! I had a question above! How do we pronounce ‘Xcross’? We can cut off decades of Tiedus/Teedus chat at the source!

Also, is online co-op likely to be a thing, or is it strictly couch co-op?

 

[Timesea Studio]

Thanks kirbyfan407 Appreciate it.

And thanks for the welcome PixelKnight! Yeah, don't worry, the feeling is mutual We've seen a lot of people quit playing good games just because there are frustrating mechanics (like parrying), so I guess our approach is where you set a kind of customised difficulty per activity, instead of choosing between overall presets. Part of that is QoL, like building in adjustable parry timers and such. You also don't even have to parry, it's just one subset of skills.

Ah, yeah... We didn't quote DC with any intention of hurting anyone like Nintendo, PlayStation, or anything like that. We just love games all round, and Dark Cloud was massively inspirational to us growing up. So was Zelda too Four Swords was our jam. But we really liked Dark Clouds Georama.

I wanted to ask though; you mentioned accessibility comes up here with some frequency - mind if I ask a few more questions about it, mainly re: what is it that comes up? Accessibility is something that is hugely important to us <3 so I like to get opinions wherever I can.

 

[IsisStormDragon]

This looks really interesting! Set myself to be notified when the Kickstarter launches.

 

[PixelKnight]

Thanks kirbyfan407 Appreciate it.

And thanks for the welcome PixelKnight! Yeah, don't worry, the feeling is mutual We've seen a lot of people quit playing good games just because there are frustrating mechanics (like parrying), so I guess our approach is where you set a kind of customised difficulty per activity, instead of choosing between overall presets. Part of that is QoL, like building in adjustable parry timers and such. You also don't even have to parry, it's just one subset of skills.

Ah, yeah... We didn't quote DC with any intention of hurting anyone like Nintendo, PlayStation, or anything like that. We just love games all round, and Dark Cloud was massively inspirational to us growing up. So was Zelda too Four Swords was our jam. But we really liked Dark Clouds Georama.

I wanted to ask though; you mentioned accessibility comes up here with some frequency - mind if I ask a few more questions about it, mainly re: what is it that comes up? Accessibility is something that is hugely important to us <3 so I like to get opinions wherever I can.

Hmm, I think you covered a lot of it in the interview, but stuff like remapping controls is a big one. Or that choosing a difficulty level that you can’t change on the title screen before you’ve even played it feels needlessly restrictive, so being able to adjust it in-game is good. Colourblindness is another.

A big one for me is text size- having an adjustable font size and particularly testing that it isn’t too small for people playing modern games on portables like the Switch’s portable mode (or even big screens in some cases). That’s one I’ve run into a lot on Switch, and in text-heavy games like RPGs with a lot of tiny text in the UI. Also that the range of reasons people might need accessibility options is huge. Ablegamers in the US are good people to ask as far as I remember, but I confess I’m no expert on the topic!

Some threads here with opinions from more informed people than me-

What accessibility options do you use/need?

This was mentioned in the moderation feedback thread, and the idea of an accessibility ST seems really cool but before it's set up, I thought it'd be nice to have a more casual and friendly conversation on the topic than the thread from the other day. Let's keep this thread focused on the player...

famiboards.com

Accessibility options you would like to see in current or future Nintendo titles.

Rather simple question and topic, really. Accessibility is important, and Nintendo are perhaps hardly recognized as the frontrunners of the industry in this regard. Can they do better? What are examples of accessibility features you would like to see in existing titles, or future ones?

famiboards.com

Nintendo continues to drop the ball with Accessibility | Game Maker's Toolkit 2021 Review

Unsurprisingly Metroid Dread was given a "big fat F" in GMTK's annual accessibility review. It's super cool to see the steps the industry as a whole continues to take here though, hopefully Ninty starts to pay attention. Stand-outs to me: Deathloops' terrible UI Ratchet's outstanding...

famiboards.com

How Does the Lack of Accessibility Options Impact You As a Gamer?

First off, I'm gonna pre-face at the start of this thread: Ableism and handwaving, including going on "The developers vision", is completely unwelcome here. The point of this thread is to collect and understand how lack of decisions, be it by intentional choice or just absolutely non-malicious...

famiboards.com

Nintendo and accessibility going forward?

Within the past few years, there has been a massive push in accessibility options. Sony (especially Naughty Dog) are the champions of this, and they've been proliferated throughout major releases from AAA companies, most recently with Dead Space going as far as to let players tune out or be...

famiboards.com

If you click the search bar, tick ‘titles only’ and put accessibility in, the various topics will come up!

 

[Timesea Studio]

This looks really interesting! Set myself to be notified when the Kickstarter launches.

You are too kind <3

 

[Yavga]

This is my fix, thanks for the op, op!

Inspiration from all these games I enjoy... Don't dissapoint now, you're creating high expectations

Oh yeah, sign me up for the kickstarter. For sure.

 

[Timesea Studio]

Hmm, I think you covered a lot of it in the interview, but stuff like remapping controls is a big one. Or that choosing a difficulty level that you can’t change on the title screen before you’ve even played it feels needlessly restrictive, so being able to adjust it in-game is good. Colourblindness is another.

A big one for me is text size- having an adjustable font size and particularly testing that it isn’t too small for people playing modern games on portables like the Switch’s portable mode (or even big screens in some cases). That’s one I’ve run into a lot on Switch, and in text-heavy games like RPGs with a lot of tiny text in the UI. Also that the range of reasons people might need accessibility options is huge. Ablegamers in the US are good people to ask as far as I remember, but I confess I’m no expert on the topic!

Some threads here with opinions from more informed people than me-

What accessibility options do you use/need?

This was mentioned in the moderation feedback thread, and the idea of an accessibility ST seems really cool but before it's set up, I thought it'd be nice to have a more casual and friendly conversation on the topic than the thread from the other day. Let's keep this thread focused on the player...

famiboards.com

Accessibility options you would like to see in current or future Nintendo titles.

Rather simple question and topic, really. Accessibility is important, and Nintendo are perhaps hardly recognized as the frontrunners of the industry in this regard. Can they do better? What are examples of accessibility features you would like to see in existing titles, or future ones?

famiboards.com

Nintendo continues to drop the ball with Accessibility | Game Maker's Toolkit 2021 Review

Unsurprisingly Metroid Dread was given a "big fat F" in GMTK's annual accessibility review. It's super cool to see the steps the industry as a whole continues to take here though, hopefully Ninty starts to pay attention. Stand-outs to me: Deathloops' terrible UI Ratchet's outstanding...

famiboards.com

How Does the Lack of Accessibility Options Impact You As a Gamer?

First off, I'm gonna pre-face at the start of this thread: Ableism and handwaving, including going on "The developers vision", is completely unwelcome here. The point of this thread is to collect and understand how lack of decisions, be it by intentional choice or just absolutely non-malicious...

famiboards.com

Nintendo and accessibility going forward?

Within the past few years, there has been a massive push in accessibility options. Sony (especially Naughty Dog) are the champions of this, and they've been proliferated throughout major releases from AAA companies, most recently with Dead Space going as far as to let players tune out or be...

famiboards.com

If you click the search bar, tick ‘titles only’ and put accessibility in, the various topics will come up!

Sorry, seems like I missed some comments that were made - I really do try to reply to everything So apologies if I miss something.

The game is pronounced 'Cross' Ahaha your comment made me laugh. FFX sure made some waves with that one. What a game <3

Online co-op is very likely to be a thing. We've had huge waves of requests for it, and it's something we really want to do. We just want to be sure it's something we definitely CAN do before saying that we can. Transparency is also something that's really important to us, so we're not going to promise anything we can't deliver on. I assure you though, it's something that has a lot of our focus right now. We'll have more updates about it come end of June/July

Yeah, sounds like we have a lot of that covered. Text size is a really interesting one for the game, since we have a huge focus on pixel perfection, but it's likely we'll throw in whatever size users want, just warning that pixel perfect is lost on certain sizes (but we can use shaders to make it look pretty good regardless). Thanks for bringing that, and all those threads, to my attention. It's stuff like this that speaks volumes and then finds its way into the game <3

 

[PixelKnight]

Sorry, seems like I missed some comments that were made - I really do try to reply to everything So apologies if I miss something.

The game is pronounced 'Cross' Ahaha your comment made me laugh. FFX sure made some waves with that one. What a game <3

Re. ‘making waves’, we were talking about Tidus in a thread recently and I remember saying that as the cover has a water sports guy in waterproofs, holding a sword made of water, standing in the ocean, I could entirely understand anyone who thought Tide-(as in ocean tides)-us was a reasonable guess given no other info

 

[Timesea Studio]

Re. ‘making waves’, we were talking about Tidus in a thread recently and I remember saying that as the cover has a water sports guy in waterproofs, holding a sword made of water, standing in the ocean, I could entirely understand anyone who thought Tide-(as in ocean tides)-us was a reasonable guess given no other info

That is entirely the reason why I always thought it was 'Tide-' growing up. To add to that, a lot of later mainline FF games have characters named after elements... loosely. Terra, Cloud, Squall, Lightning. Naturally, I assumed they were going with water this time around, alas it was really just the sun.

 

[Donnie]

Damn this looks awesome, thanks for surfacing this PK! Love to read about the attention and focus on accessbility

 

[BassForever]

Took 5 minutes to click through the various links and now have the KS to notify me when it launches.

 

[BassForever]

Bumping this cause the KS is live

 

[Timesea Studio]

Hey thanks @BassForever We are indeed live and so so excited

 

[BassForever]

Hey thanks @BassForever We are indeed live and so so excited

While I want a physical copy (I want my coffin to be filled with plastic ) I ended up backing at the early bird special for now. Good luck with the campaign and full development.

 

[Timesea Studio]

Thanks heaps We have an announcement about physicals we'll do soon. It's something we're keen on but just have to see if it's environmentally viable first